assessment

New research from the University of Georgia and Columbia University published in the current issue of Journal of Human Resources suggests that it's because of their classroom behavior, which may lead teachers to assign girls higher grades than their male counterparts.

Charter schools in Indiana are among the nation’s best at raising student test scores when compared with other public schools, a Stanford University study showed.

On December 11, 2012, the Education Department announced the 16 winners of the Race to the Top school district grants (RTTD). Sixty-one finalists had been announced recently out of an original 372 districts that turned in applications in November. A total of $400 million was due to go out, and winners ranged from $10 million to $40 million for a period of four years, depending on the population of the given district. The winners included urban and rural districts, small districts and large consortia, and public and charter schools.

The results for international assessments on math, science, and reading are in: Students from East Asian countries, along with a select group of European countries, outperformed those in the United States, according to the results for the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), released Dec. 11.

Parents who want a quick, easy snapshot of their child's school's performance can have it now with the release of a "school performance index" number for each of the state's 1,200 schools.

Former Hanceville student Miranda Robertson made good grades and got all the inspiration she needed from her high school experience to eventually return as a teacher’s aide in the Cullman County school system. What she didn’t get? A diploma. Robertson would have graduated in 2005, and though she got to walk and received a certificate of attendance, she still couldn’t technically graduate because she failed one section of a certain standardized test. It didn’t matter that she made As and Bs every year — what she really needed was a passing mark on the Alabama High School Graduation Exam.